Spiritual Presents

  Wars are never good.  There is rarely a just war.  War is the result of failure.  Failure to compromise.  Failure to communicate.  Failure of leadership.  Wars are the result of our broken humanity.  They are rooted in projection, greed, and pride.  People are deceived by lies and half-truths. Whole populations can be falsely demonized.  Further, the results of war are always damaging.  Scars of pain and suffering are formed that will last for generations.   Wars rarely solve anything and almost always set the stage for… the next war.   This is not to say that God is still not hard at work during times of war.  God continually reaches out to all who will stop and listen.  Grace-filled moments can happen during war.  Amazing incidents of courage take place.  Incredible acts of kindness occur.  Deeper understanding of other people by many does develop.  Some individuals find and are found...

  The Bible is a window to the living God.  Each book, chapter and passage can be thought of as a beautiful stained glass illumination of the divine/ human relationship. The Bible is not God.  It is a lens through which to engage God.  The Holy Spirit inspires every letter that is written and read.  Yet each word is penned by a human hand.  God is alive in the text.  However, the moment we reduce God to words we are limiting the limitless.  Both of these realities can be true at the same time.  It takes inspired wisdom to rejoice in how the Holy Spirit teaches us through the beautiful windows of the Bible. God is always reaching out in love to us first.  The Bible was written, edited, expanded, and redacted by many different people over many centuries.  Thus, it is open to human misunderstanding and even error.  However, knowing this should not lead us to dismiss or discount what is written in Holy Scripture.  On the contr...